Kim Cheong-gi (김청기)

Hollywood producer joins robot film team

Source | 2008/06/04 | Permalink |

'There's an emotional touchstone in the story'.

One image captured the mind of William Teitler, a Hollywood producer known for his work on "Jumanji" (1995) and "The Polar Express" (2004).

That image was of a 60-meter tall robot ? and in his mind, Teitler was controlling it.

"It's a delightful fantasy just picturing the scene", he said.

Teitler, 57, is the executive producer of the Korean live-action film, "Robot Taekwon V", which starts shooting in September.

The animated film, directed by Won Sin-yeon, is based on the legendary 1976 Korean animated film, "Robot Taekwon V".

As the film's co-producer, Teitler visited Korea last week to meet with Shin Chul, the head of film company Shin Cine Communications; Kim Cheong-gi Kim, the director of the 1976 version; and Won.

They discussed the upcoming film's story and the use of computer graphics with seven local visual effects studios.

According to Robot Taekwon V Company, which is in charge of the filmmaking, this is...| More

Classic Korean films re-released in Seoul

Source | 2008/05/15 | Permalink |

Several decades-old films from Korea will be re-released in Seoul this spring, as two of Korea's older movie theaters try to attract new audiences.

Hollywood Theater, located alongside the popular Insa-dong traditional shopping district, has recently devoted one of its screens to re-releases of classic Korean and international films. It is currently screening both Ben-Hur and the 1976 Korean film High School Joker by SEOK Rae-myeong. Well remembered by viewers in their forties now, High School Joker has attracted 366 viewers in limited screenings since its re-release.

Meanwhile, Dream Cinema in Seodaemun, the last old-style single screen theater in Korea, has agreed to co-host together with Hollywood Theater a special showcase of four classic Korean films from May 15 to June 19.

The four films, which will not be subtitled, include "High School Joker"; veteran director IM Kwon-taek's "Surrogate Woman" (1986), which won a Best Actress Award for KANG Soo-yeon at the Venice Inte...| More

[THE HIGH TIDE OF THE KOREAN WAVE(25)] Hallyu: the Koreanization of world culture

Source | 2008/03/21 | Permalink |

In the last few years, Korean films, TV dramas and pop music have become immensely popular abroad, a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave. This is the 25th in a series of essays by a select group of scholars and journalists looking at the spread of Korean pop culture in Southeast Asian countries and beyond. - Ed.

"Hallyu", or the Korean Wave, marks the long overdue re-emergence of Korean culture into the global arena. Korean culture's newfound international vogue situates South Korean cinema, TV melodramas, K-pop, and computer games as active participants in the transformation of world culture.

These "domestic" electronic audio-visual cultural creations are no longer limited to just the Korean peninsula and the global Korean diaspora despite that they are produced in the Korean language - a language that is not one of the globalized imperial languages such as English, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese.

Despite this linguistic barrier, hallyu is now a recognized agent of gl...| More

[DVD review] Dug up from past, 'Robot' still shines

Source | 2007/08/06 | Permalink |

Watching Kim Cheong-gi's "Robot Taekwon V" is an interesting study in anthropology. The racial mix of characters, added to the vague setting and time period of the story, should surprise viewers when they realize that this is the first Korean animated feature film, released three decades ago in a land that was then undoubtedly homogeneous.
The film, which was recently released in a limited-edition DVD set, has a similar vibe to an awkward contemporary sci-fi co-production between Hollywood and Korea, filmed in analogue.
But the film was released in 1976, when the nation was still in the hands of a dictator and the entire population went frantic over news that a Korean wrestler had won a gold medal at the Montreal Olympics, the first for Korea since the country was liberated from Japan in 1945.
Robot Taekwon V clearly conveys the morals and ideals of modern Korea as it struggles to moderate between modern development and the traditional values of the past. To put it simply, the story...| More

Taekwondo robot kicks its way back

Source | 2006/08/21 | Permalink |

Robot Taekwon V could easily be mistaken for Mazinger Z, a Japanese fighting robot, which was hugely popular here right before the Korean version came along. But if you tell that to most Koreans who grew up in the '70s, you can expect an ear-drubbing on the uniqueness of Korea's favorite robot.
In fact, the first episode of Robot Taekwon V, the shorts by Kim Cheong-gi that became a milestone in Korean animation, drew 180,000 people in Seoul alone when it was released in theaters in Jongno in July 1976.
To celebrate the film's 30th anniversary, a local producer arranged a screening of the film, which has been digitally restored, at Seoul Animation Center.
The screening was following a business deal signed by Shincine Communication earlier this month for producing music videos, computer games, commercials and films using the animated character.
The digital remastered version of the animation first came into the public spotlight last October, when the first episode of the film was scr...| More